Thursday, June 28, 2007

I am back. It's been a great week, and the weekend will be even greater! This weekend (yes, right before finals), my sister and I get to go hang out with some awesome people on one of our friends' farms. I guess it's not really his farm, but someone in his family owns it. That's besides the point. The point is, it's going to be fun! I can't really explain how excited I am! Also, Carolyn and I get to cook for everyone on Saturday night. I've been wanting to do something like this for a while, and now I finally get the opportunity! We are going to fish, shoot and build a fire, apparently. I bet you are all laughing right now.

Me? Fish? Shoot?

Yes, I'm scared. I am a sit-in-a-coffee-shop-and-talk kind of girl. I am good at doing indoor kinds of things. But this is my chance to finally be "Texan". I have missed out my whole life! I haven't got the slightest clue how to do anything outdoorsy, really. Fishing reminds me of my Papa, because he loved it so much. I didn't know him very well when he passed away (I was 14), so doing something that he loved will make me feel connected to him in a way. Ok, I know I sound creepy, but I can't explain it. Bottom line, I am excited about getting to enjoy God's creation. :)

Have you ever tried to eat a sandwich that had grated cheese on it instead of sliced cheese? Well, I'm doing that right now, and it's very difficult. All the cheese keeps falling out and it's pretty messy. We ran out of cheese slices, so I had to use the grated cheese. Never again.

I found out yesterday that my family are going to be coming into town today. They were in Birmingham visiting my Pop (dad's dad), and since Claire has to be at camp on Sunday (the camp is not too far from here), they thought they would stay in CS until then. It's kind of sad because Carolyn and I won't be in town this weekend... I wish we could have gotten a heads up about this, but whatever. I am sure I will be going home soon (I really need a haircut and I'm scheduled to have my teeth clean in July), so I'll get to spend time with them then.

Well y'all, I'm sorry none of this is entertaining. I was just updating for the sake of it.

Sunday, June 24, 2007

I feel like I need to write, because my brain has been full of thoughts recently. I'm not really sure where to start, because there are a lot of thoughts. Sometimes I think that if someone really saw into my brain, they would be scared. It's crazy in there! I wrestle with so much in my mind. I try to make sense of things, which is probably bad half the time because God didn't make everything on this Earth to make sense to us humans. Here's what I've been thinking a lot about (hang in there, it's VERY long):

Being a Wise WomanI go to a discipleship class every week with women in my church. We started off doing a book written by a woman at Living Hope, but we are not going to follow the book so strictly now because our leader felt like God had laid some specific topics on her heart that she needed to address in the group. The book was all about being a Wise Woman of the Lord. I have been thinking a lot about this because I have a very strong desire to be a wise woman.

The wise woman builds her house, but with her own hands the foolish one tears hers down. Proverbs 14:1

This verse is the key verse for the book, which you can actually find here. I have been thinking a lot about what it means to be a wise woman. I am at a very exciting point in my life right now, I think. I'm single. A lot of people hear the word "single" and think "looking for a boyfriend", but it simply means that I am not married. How exciting! You don't get to be single for very long in your life, if you really think about it. Once you're married, that's it -- God can no longer use you to minister to others as a single woman. Being single is also exciting because it means that it is a time of your life that God can work on you. You don't get married and suddenly become a perfect wife, mother, woman, whatever. It gets more difficult. (Of course I am not speaking from experience, but I have talked to enough married women to know this is the truth!) A lot of women have told me that when you're married, all your bad habits come out. The real you is revealed, and if you're like me, it's not pretty. I wouldn't want anyone to have to see that, let alone live with that!

And on a different note, your relationship with God certainly doesn't become perfect. When you're married, you have this other person who takes a lot of time and energy. You have to focus a lot on keeping that relationship alive and healthy! And becoming a mom... sheesh! Thinking about that wears me out! You won't always have lots of wonderful time that you can use to spend with God. Which is the most important relationship of all. If you are used to putting God on the back burner now, when you get married and start having kids, putting God on the back burner will be what happens. It will be automatic. If God doesn't get first place now with your time, He won't get first place later. Simple as that.

So... I'm single. As I said. I also said that I want to become a wise woman. How does that happen? Well I have all this free time.

I don't have a boyfriend. I don't have someone to call me and talk for hours with every day. I don't have an obligation to spend a lot of time with someone.

I don't have a job (but I need one. That's another story.).

I am taking summer school - one class per session - and I'm done by 11:20 every day.

There's no better time to start!

God obviously wants to show me something right now. He wants to teach me to manage my time wisely, just like a wise woman would! And so that's where I'll start. By spending time with Him. I already read the Bible regularly, but do you want to know what I really struggle with? Prayer. For some people, that comes really naturally. But for me, it's very difficult. I already told you that my brain is crazy. Praying makes things even crazier. I'm afraid though, that it's mostly due to the fact that I've let Satan have a stronghold in my life with regards to my thoughts. I daydream to the extreme. I have no focus with my thoughts. And Satan loves to use that weakness of mine! It's similar to having a small rip in a piece of clothing. You get that rip in there, and with a couple little tugs here and there (that happen without you noticing), you end up with a huge hole and a completely ruined article of clothing. I don't want to be ruined! (Of course you can repair the hole by sewing it, which is kind of like what God does.)

I read something yesterday that made me think a lot.

You can tell how popular a church is by who come on Sunday morning.You can tell how popular the pastor or evangelist is by who comes on Sunday night.But you can tell how popular Jesus is by who comes to the prayer meeting.

If you love Jesus, you will cry out to him. And my cries seem to have a great starting point, but then my mind drifts off.

However, Jesus came to destroy Satan's cunning schemes:The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work. (1 John 3:8b)

So no longer, Satan, will you have a hold on me! God is so much more powerful than that. He is bigger than my distractions. He is bigger than my daydreams. He is bigger than all my problems!

So I will grow closer to God this summer by spending time in the Word and by praying. Seems simple, but you wouldn't believe how easy it is to fill up your time every day! This is a slight tangent, but that is something else I have been thinking a lot about: wasting time. I waste huge amounts of time every day, especially on the internet. Yuck. How pointless! It kind of goes along with my life's theme - me. I am the star of the show. And so naturally, I have to continually check to see who has sent me an email. Who has sent me a message. Who has written on my wall. It's all about me! Another one of my goals this summer is to manage my time better. I want to stop wasting so much time!

Back to the wise woman thing. I am blessed with a lot of time right now, and I want God to use that to shape me into the woman He wants me to be. I want to be prepared for several things:

1. MarriageThis is not guaranteed, but the majority of women on this Earth get married. So just in case it's God's plan for me to fall into that majority group, I want to be prepared! I talked a little bit about this earlier, but I know that you don't just become this amazing person when you are married. I want to learn to be submissive to my husband. I know this might be hard to learn how to do right now, but I can learn to put others first for a start. As I said, I live in the World of Me, so putting others first doesn't come naturally. Philippians 2:3 says to do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Ouch. I need to work on that! People who are not used to considering others better than themselves have problems with authority. And who is in authority in a marriage? The man! (See 1 Corinthians 11:3.) Here I am, single, with no prospects in sight. Perfect time to practice this whole humility and selflessness thing! I can start with the way I treat my roommates, my sisters, my parents. There are lots of opporunitites!

I have heard a lot of people say to focus on "becoming the person your ideal husband would want to marry." Well, yes. I think that it is important to examine yourself before you date. And that's very much what I want to do. But it shouldn't be your only motive. Changing and desiring a close relationship with God should come from wanting to glorify your Creator! We're not just here to get married, y'all (it sure seems to be trendy right now at A&M, though)! We're here for our Savior. I think there's a reason it's called History (Get it? His story?? Haha.). It's all about Him! So let's let that be our motive in becoming wise women. Or men, if you are a guy. :)

2. MotherhoodIt hit me the other day that I might one day be a mom. I was looking around at all the young mothers at my church, and I pretty much freaked out. Until I remembered that I'm not pregnant, I was thinking, "I'm not ready for this!!!!!!" I don't think anyone really is ready for parenthood. But we can prepare a little better before we are even married! Children are told to honor your father and mother (Deuteronomy 5:16) and obey [their] parents in the Lord, for this is right (Ephesians 6:1). A parent has a huge responsibility to raise their child so they fear God.Proverbs 22:6 says to train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.Ephesians 6:4 tells fathers not to exasperate their children, but to bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.Um, wow. I can already tell this is going to be hard. I'm pretty sure God doesn't want mothers to exasperate their children either!Parents also pass their sins down to their children. Children will act like their parents do. If their parents cuss, they will cuss. If their parents have a selfish attitude, their children will think this world is all about them, too. I don't want to pass my sinful habits down to my children. I want them to see me putting Christ first. Before my husband. Before them. I want them to see that honoring God is the most important thing they can do with their lives! So by starting now, I want to get off on the right track, for my children's sake. All of this, of course, is if it's God's will for me to have little kiddos!

3. MinistryI want you all to know that I don't think this is something that will come in the far future. No, I don't automatically get a ministry when I get married. I have one now! God has something planned right now for me. God wants me to use my life to minister to others right now. He can use me in my brokenness. He can use me in my strength. He can use me all the time! And that is the reason I want God to help me become a wise woman now. I will grow and change and be strengthened and broken for His glory, for ministry. It's His plan. All I'm doing is offering myself as a living sacrifice. He wants my life! Of course, when I get married He may change the way that He wants to use me. That is very probable. In fact, I really hope to go into ministry with my husband. Not sure what that will look like, though. I have talked to some people about this, but most people don't know that that is what I truly want to do with my life: ministry. Notice that "I" and "want" are in italics. Those are my plans. It could be God's plan for me to have a normal career. He may want me to be a teacher for the rest of my life. If so, great! If not, great! It's God's plan either way, and it's what's best. And I want to be prepared for whatever I'm supposed to do. Whether it's sharing my life and spending hours and hours of time with college students (my ideal job) or teaching math to a bunch of pubescent children, I am excited. God is good!

Look at that -- the three M's! Haha, that was just a coincidence.

I am very excited with what God will do with me this summer. The surface is only just beginning to get scratched. I can't wait to be changed by Him, molded by Him, shaped by Him. I desire to be a wise woman of the Lord. Thankfully, God says that if we desire wisdom, we should ask Him, and He'll give it to us! (See James 1:5.)

Convictions

Carolyn just walked into my room a little while ago and started sharing a bunch of stuff with me. She told me that she had been convicted of a bunch of stuff this summer. I asked her to list it, and she looked at me and said, "Seriously? Are you sure? There's a lot..." She proceeded to list all the things she had been convicted of so far, and it was weird because

they were

the exact

things

I had been

convicted of.

The same list.

She was nervous about sharing her list with me because she thought she had a lot of struggles. It just goes to show that honestly and fellowship go hand-in-hand, and it's something that God desires in the Church! We were meant to share our struggles with one another. A lot of the time we keep things inside, thinking that no one else has those same difficulties.

Not true.

Because I had the same ones.

And Carolyn's list was long:

WordsI have been thinking a lot about the tongue recently. It's compared to a ship's rudder in the Bible (James 3:4,5). Matthew 12:34 says that out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. Um, what?! Seriously? Because I say some pretty mean stuff. I am critical and condemning. That makes me feel sick -- that's a reflection of what my heart looks like! I am harsh and quick to answer so many times. God is convicting me in terms of what I say to others. Tiffany and I were struck by 1 Peter 3:8&9 in The Message the other week:Summing up: Be agreeable, be sympathetic, be loving, be compassionate, be humble. That goes for all of you, no exceptions. No retaliation. No sharp-tongued sarcasm. Instead, bless—that's your job, to bless. You'll be a blessing and also get a blessing.

Sharp-tongued sarcasm? I am pretty good at that. And yet the Bible says that it's my job to bless others. I am supposed to build up with my words, not tear down! (See Ephesians 4:29.)

MotivesThis is a biggie for me. I have awful motives most of the time. Sometimes I will post things on my blog because I want people to read it. How sad is that? Pride is a huge problem of mine. I will put things on my Facebook profile so others will read it and think, "Wow, she read that book? I admire that!" and so on. Pathetic. Yet we all seem to do it. Reading my Bible in public places is becoming difficult, because I have gotten attention because of it. And of course that feels good. Yes, I am a Christian! Look how holy I am! Now I know why Jesus told people to pray in the secret and give money in secret (read Matthew 6)! I think motives go hand-in-hand with pride and selfishness. God will search our hearts and reveal our motives:

All a man's ways seem innocent to him, but motives are weighed by the Lord. (Proverbs 16:2)Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait till the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men's hearts. At that time each will receive his praise from God. (1 Corinthians 4:5)

My movies really suck most of the time. I pray that God would search my heart and reveal motives that are not pure!

Time/LazinessOhhh dear. I am awful at managing time.

Completely awful.

I will spend hours doing pointless things (email, facebook, doing who knows what) instead of managing my time wisely. I know I touched on this a little bit in my last section. I went to the college service at Grace today with Carolyn, and the whole sermon was called "working hard or hardly working?" (Read Proverbs 6.) Ouch. That hits home. I need to prioritize what I do! God should be #1. It shows when He's not. And He's not most of the time. I end up with a list of stuff I haven't done and about 8 hours of wasted time at the end of every day. That sucks.

PrayerBasically, my prayer life needs to explode. I definitely have some communication issues with God!

MoneyThis is really embarassing. Although I am hard worker if I have a job, the money I get from that hard work seems to go down the drain. I buy pointless and expensive things. What the heck is going to happen when I get married? I want my husband to be able to trust me with our money. I want to spend it wisely. I want to save. So basically, a lot of things need to change. Sometimes I feel like I have no self control when I go shopping (maybe the way to solve this is not go shopping? Haha). It's really bad sometimes. I'm not in debt, and I hope I never have to be. Thankfully, that scares me to death. The thought of credit cards make my throat close up. I have used them before, but I pay them off the moment I can. I know it might be unavoidable, but I don't want to use them if I can help it.

Bible MemorizationPsalm 119:11 says, I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.We honor God when we memorize His Word! Jewish boys used to memorize the entire Old Testament by the time they were 14 or something like that. Can you believe that? We memorize the Bible to keep ourselves from sinning. Sounds good, right? When I was little, I went to something called AWANAs. It stood for Approved Workmen Are Not Ashamed, which comes from 2 Timothy 2:15. We memorized Scripture ever week. Actually, a lot of the Bible verses I know I memorized in AWANAs. We are to meditate on the Law day and night (Psalm 1)! I have gotten really bad at that.

I am great at using biblegateway.com. I can remember the jist of most verses. I can kind of recite a lot verses. But I can't for the life of me remember the address! If you gave me my Bible (since I have things highlighted and I know where on the page they are), I would be able to find some verses. Apart from that, it's awful. And I know that God wants me to learn what the Bible says. It's good! It's useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness (2 Timothy 3:16). Who doesn't want that?!

ProstitutionBefore you all freak out, I don't mean this in the literal sense. Have you ever heard the song "Wedding Dress" by Derek Webb? If you haven't, you can listen to it here. Even if you have heard it, this video is pretty cool once it gets going.

I have been thinking a lot about how I prostitute myself to the world. I trust the world and not my God. I constantly run from Him. A line in that song says I am a whore I do confess; I put You on just like a wedding dress. It would be pretty ridiculous if we saw a whore get married. What would we be thinking? It'll never last. She'll go back to her old ways. Are you serious? A whore? Commitment? That's like me. I am in this relationship with the Creator of the Universe and yet I still turn from Him. I am crazy. I think there's a good reason that Israel was compared to a prostitute in the book of Hosea (go read it, it's one of my favorites in the Bible!). We choose other lovers instead of the One who can love perfectly and unconditionally! Yet He still considers us our husband instead of our master (Hosea 2:16). Our God is good.

Guess what? I think that's all. I think I have completed my thoughts for tonight. If you made it this far, then congratulations. You just read a novel. Check it off your summer reading list.

But seriously, I can't believe this post was this long.

I am exhausted now. My brain is still thinking, but a lot of those cooped up thoughts are out! Yay!

As my blog title says, "God has spoken, and the rest is commentary."Well I hope that I provided some truth from God, with a lot of my own commentary.

My life is abundant and full of joy. Ask me about my God sometime. I would love to share the wealth with you. :)

Saturday, June 23, 2007

Last night I hung out with a really fun (and crazy) group of people. Carolyn and I got invited to a BBQ by our friend Austin, and hey, we like random things, so we went. It was a blast! The guys who live with Austin are insane. We sat around, talking about random stuff, jamming out, listening to Boston, playing Guitar Hero and then eventually we decided to watch The Phantom of the Opera. I couldn't believe it when all these guys started suggesting that movie! I was a little impressed, to say the least. I thought most guys hated girly movies (especially girly movies that are musicals). But they all loved the songs and we had a wonderful time analyzing it. What a fun group of people.

Sometimes I wish that my life was a musical. If people just burst into song all the sudden in real life, things would be so much more fun! I am tempted to start dancing sometimes, as I listen to my iPod when I'm walking across campus. It's too bad stuff like that isn't normal.

I've been listening to some funny music today. I think this song/video is hilarious:

It's from the movie Music and Lyrics, which is not an amazing movie, but the music is pretty good. Hugh Grant makes me laugh, a lot.

Friday, June 22, 2007

That's what my dad and his siblings used to call ice cream when they were little. It had to do with a commercial that was playing on tv back then (the commercial actually said "...thin creamy shell..." talking about the ice cream it was advertising). Anyways, I just got through eating some Key Lime Pie flavored Blue Bell ice cream. Pretty good. Not as good as anything containing chocolate, though.

Today I had a history test that pretty much sucked. I wish I was good at history. I studied for hours, but I still freaked out during the test and forgot a lot of stuff. I made a ton of stupid mistakes, I think. At least it's over.

I'm sorry I have neglected all my adoring fans (ha) for the past couple days! History took up all my time. I joke that Sam Houston took up all my time, because I had to read a book about him. I think I had some dreams about him, too. Scary stuff.

Ok, I feel like putting some pictures on here.

This is where I have class every day. Isn't it beautiful? I know you can't really see the building, but I think having the trees there really make it gorgeous. I found out the other day that it was built in 1932.

Tiffany wanted to leave to leave our study party at Coffee Station to go play volleyball, so this is me giving her an evil look as she packs her stuff up. Except that I don't look angry, I just look weird.

This is Carolyn working on a top-secret project. Haha! She's really just doing a little arts and crafts.

Well, I had a lot more to say, but I need to run some errands. Maybe I'll post something later.

Monday, June 18, 2007

There is a Quiche Lorraine cooking in the oven. Sounds hard, but it's freakin easy to make. Carolyn is showing me her nose hairs right now. We just spent about a billion and two hours at Coffee Station. In the other room, John Mayer is singing about someone's body (apparently it's a wonderland). It is a very good day.

So yeah, Carolyn and I went to Coffee Station to study, but ended up studying 1 and 2 Thessalonians for a good 3 hours, I bet. Tiffany was with us, and it was absolutely phenomenal. There is nothing that gives me joy like studying God's Word with other Brothers and Sisters in Christ. Ahhhhh I get excited just thinking about it!!! I didn't read anything about Sam Houston, and now I am feeling guilty. Just to inform you on how awful my brain is, for about 2 seconds (as I was typing "Sam Houston"), I thought that Sam Houston not only played a great part in Texas' history, but was responsible for the chain of the most popular superstores in the USA. Good grief. Then I remembered that that was Sam Walton. They do have kind of similar names, though.

Carolyn has just grabbed my scissors and is cutting Milky's fur off. I am seeing chunks of it fall into her lap as I speak. He is looking more and more like a hobo hamster. She just felt sorry for him because it's so hot in my room right now. Carolyn kind of loves animals a lot.

Back to the 1 and 2 Thessalonians thing. I really loved this verse, so I am going to share it with y'all.

"And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming." - 2 Thessalonians 2:8

WOW!!! Seriously? Just by breathing, God's power is so amazing that it will overthrow the antichrist, and simply His splendor will destroy him. WOW. I am amazed by that! We were talking about this verse, and Carolyn said something about, "I don't want God to just breathe, but I want Him to get out a sword and stab it in him!!!!" But then we thought about 2 Timothy 3:16 - "All Scripture is God-breathed..."Then we thought about Hebrews 4:12 - "For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any two-edged sword..."

Another WOW. I love how you can connect different parts of the Bible like that! God-breathed. God's Word. Sharper than any two-edged sword. That probably isn't right or something, but it made sense to us. Just His breath is sharper than any sword. He doesn't need to grab a sword and stab the antichrist. Simply his breath and splendor is enough to pretty much slaughter him. My God is awesome. :)

Almost every time I go to Coffee Station I end up just reading my Bible. Maybe I should just live there! It's really cool. I have amazing conversations with really awesome people there. If you ever see me sitting in Coffee Station, please stop and say hi to me (even if I have no idea who you are). I love meeting new people! I will most likely be with my sister. We look like this:

Saturday, June 16, 2007

I told you that I would write about marrying someone with piercings (and/or tattoos). I was kind of serious, actually. I made the mistake of telling my mom and Nana that I could marry someone with a piercing or two at dinner the other day. You never know. I kind of like that look, to be honest. I don't want to marry a "bad boy". You know me, that would never happen. I just don't have a problem with piercings (depends on the place, though) on some guys, as long as their hearts are in the right place. I'm trying to think about how to word this without sounding cheesy, weird or dorky. I know some Christian guys with piercings and/or tattoos and they are really great guys. Plus, man looks at the outside and God looks at the heart.

Which is really true, I found out. My mom just kind of laughed at me and my Nana got this really scary look on her face. I think I may be going to hell now. (Haha.) I love my Nana, but we are very different when it comes to a lot of things. She is very conservative and very much a southern Baptist. She likes the clean cut guys. I do too, kind of. I also like the kind of guys who don't shave for a while and don't do their hair sometimes. And maybe have piercings. Okay that just sounds weird, now. I'm just not opposed to it.

I received a very long lecture about how awful it was to have piercings and tattoos if you're a guy. Apparently heathens do that sort of thing.

I just laughed a lot in my head.

I'm done with that topic, now.

My mom and sisters are leaving tomorrow morning. I sure did have fun with them while they were here! We watched Charlotte's Web tonight, and I decided it is one of my new favorite movies. I decided that I live in the past, or something. I love childrens' books and movies. Tiffany and I went to Barnes and Noble the other day and spent about an hour looking at books we read as children.Make Way for the DucklingsGoodnight MoonIsland of the Blue DolphinsMike Mulligan and His Steam ShovelThe Very Hungry CaterpillarGoodnight Mr. TomThe BFGSome other ones I can't remember now.

I loved being a child. I loved to read. Even now, I love picture books almost more than "grown up" books. When I find out that I am pregnant with my first child, I will go to the bookstore and buy the classics. My children will have an extensive library. I can't wait to read to them every night - I want them to grow up the same way I did. Lots and lots of picture books. :)

I want to go to a church that has no politial affiliation. That's not to say that Community Church does - actually, it really doesn't. No one talks about politics or bashes Hilary or Bush. Of all the churches I've ever been to, this one talks the least about politics. I was reading Blue Like Jazz and it made me think about how I don't want to go to a Republican/Democratic church. I don't think politics and religion should go together. Jesus' agenda never included politics while he was on Earth. He never gathered with others to argue whether or not we should ban gay marriage or whether abortion was wrong or not. He came to love, to forgive, to feed, to restore, to heal, to care for. He cared about people, not policies. I have never been a huge fan of politics. I think that is mainly due to the fact that I didn't spend long enough in any particular country to understand the political systems. We don't need to assume that Jesus would have been a Republican if He were here. I don't think he cares about that very much. He just cared about people. I want to be that kind of person, too. I don't want to bash homosexuals. I want to love them and welcome them into the church. I want them to know that Jesus loves them but He doesn't approve of their lifestyle. Protesting and yelling and shouting hateful words never helped anything. That is such terrible ungrace. I'm pretty sure Jesus would never do that. He would give people hugs. He would heal them. And then He would tell them to go and sin no more.

I got a little off track with that one. But that is what I have been thinking a lot about recently.

I really enjoy deep conversations. Small talk is fine, and sometimes you have to start off there because that's polite. It's what you do when you first meet someone. But sometimes I just want to get right to it. I want to ask people what their greatest struggle is. I want to know the lowest point of their life. I want to know what gives them much joy. I want to know the real person deep inside. I want to discuss things that are not shallow. Sometimes this happens with strangers, and I like it a lot. I just don't know a lot of stuff about intellectual things, and I don't know how to make myself sound smart in those circumstances. But I will listen. I'm still learning, and I don't have an opinion on everything. That's okay though, because everyone learns. I think a lot of opinions are just people repeating stuff they've heard before. That's all an opinion is, isn't it? People hearing someone say something, and then they think, Hey, I agree with that. I want to think that, too. So they say that's what they think, and it becomes their opinion. I mean, that's what I do. I repeat stuff I've heard and say that it is what I think. It all seems so shallow, now that I've put it that way. But I do like to have deep conversations a lot. Mostly about the Bible. I have realized that I am learning a lot about the Bible. I am still a baby when it comes to some things about the Bible. God is still teaching me, and I'm still growing. I love it.

Since it's getting late, I am going to wrap up now.Life is beautiful.God is great.I am satisfied.- Katherine

Friday, June 15, 2007

I woke up early (6 am) to go to Coffee Station with Tiffany. That was pretty fun. But by the time I went to class and got home, I was pretty tired, so I took a nap. I set my alarm and when I woke up when it went off, I was still tired. So I tried to fall back asleep.

As I was drifting back off to sleep, I heard Anna yelling in the living room.

"What!? What are you doing here?!!??!?"

I thought she might be on the phone with one of her high school friends who had come into town or something.

A few seconds later, she knocked lightly on my bedroom door, then proceeded to tell me that there was someone with a package at the door for me. I jumped out of bed, slightly confused, and ran into the living room.

"You're joking. Someone is here that we know.""No! Seriously. I'm talking to my mom on the phone. There is someone outside who wants you to sign for a package."

Finally I decided to open the door and see for myself. I expected someone to jump out at me, like Brad (who used to live in the apartment across from us). He rarely visits, so when he does, it's a big deal.

I tried to open the door but I could only get it open a little crack. Something was tied to the door, keeping it shut.

Half delirious, I looked down to see Tawny's dog leash tied around the handle and dangling to the ground.

My family had flewn in from England without telling me! I was absolutely shocked. Of course, my brain wasn't working enough for me to figure out that my family didn't actually live in England anymore. I heard giggling, and then Claire, Christina and my mom appeared from around the corner.

I started screaming.

I have never been surprised by someone like that. I've always wanted to, but it's never happened. My mom and two of my sisters drove all the way to College Station without telling me! I was so excited! It's my Nana's birthday today (the big 7-7) and my mom decided to surprise her. She decided to surprise Carolyn and I, too. :)

I have been having a blast with my little sisters. I took them to Coffee Station and we hung out on the couches upstairs. It's been so much fun! Tonight, we are going to see Ocean's Thirteen. I heard it was really good, so I'm pretty excited about that.

I need to help Carolyn with her homework now. I will write about marrying someone with piercings later. (haha)

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

The sickness is gone. (Insert Hallelujah chorus here.) Thank goodness! I can breathe and I have enough energy to run around and keep busy like normal. I am very surprised because I didn't get a sinus infection. Normally my snot goes green and (sorry is this too much information?) I cough up a bunch of phlegm. Not this time! I think it was just a regular cold, something I haven't had in years. All that is left now is a raspy, sexy voice. Heck yes. (Haha!)

Sometimes I talk to myself in my head. Do you ever do that? I make up stories and I write things in my head. It always goes really well. In my head, I am a wonderful writer. I publish stories that would be best sellers if they ever reached the shelves of stores. But that's the problem - they never make it onto paper. These stories normally get written when I am walking to or from class, or while riding the bus. They are funny. I am a funny person, in my head. By the time I get home, though, I forget them. America will forever be deprived of my literary works.

I have a confession: I have been watching the worst TV show ever. My sister and my roommate and I have been renting a TV series from Hastings that is probably turning my brain to slush and replacing my vocabulary with phrases such as "That's hot." "Goodnight sexy." "Do you love it?" and "Hey gorgeous."

That's right.

We've been watching The Simple Life.

I actually really really disliked Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie, and I still don't like them a whole lot. But The Simple Life makes me like them a little bit more than I used to because they are so stupid and funny! I just can't imagine how someone can have absolutely no common sense. I enjoy watching them make fools of themselves while trying to do normal tasks: vacuum, change a diaper, put icing on a cake... etc. Anna, Carolyn and I enjoy saying "Goodnight sexy" to each other before we go to bed. Wow.

On a more serious note (and this is like an oxymoron), I have been reading Blue Like Jazz again. I bought the book two years ago and read it, and I loved it. Then I let someone borrow it, and I haven't seen it since. So on Sunday, I went to Half Price Books to see if they had it. They did! I bought it again, and I've been reading it. I love it.

Carolyn and I have started a mini-Bible study together. We are going through 1 and 2 Thessalonians. I am learning a lot! We started today and read the first chapter of 1 Thessalonians. I want people to know that I am a Christian just by looking at my actions, just like the Christians in Thessalonica. How amazing!

Sometimes I wake up and I don't know where I am. I have to think for a few seconds what year it is, and whether or not I am in college. I forget that my family has moved back to Texas, and that I am about to start my third year of college, and that I no longer live in England. It is the weirdest thing. I can't begin to explain the thoughts that race through my head in the morning. Life is very strange, sometimes.

I have to thank my friend Tiffany for introducing me to the greatest place on Earth: Coffee Station. Well, she didn't really introduce me to the coffee shop - I mean, I knew about it before, and I had been there a few times. Normally I go to Sweet Eugene's, because that's what people talk about most. Honestly, though, I'm not a huge fan of Sweet's Coffee. No offense to them. It all tastes the same to me. And it's normally crowded with people who have nothing to do but take up a whole couch and listen to their iPod and study. I can't ever find anywhere to sit there. Tiffany told me that she goes to Coffee Station all the time, and that she's friends with the people who work there. So last week, Carolyn and I went there in the afternoon. I loved it. It was quiet and had a really relaxing and cozy atmosphere. We sat on a very comfortable couch and drank vanilla chai lattes and I tutored Carolyn in math. It was delightful.

But the best was yet to come.

I got sick, so I didn't go there for a few days. Then Sunday came, and I got a call from Tiffany after church. She said I should come to Coffee Station. So I grabbed Carolyn, and we went to coffee heaven.

The first thing you should know about Coffee Station is that the people who work there are AMAZING. And I mean that. I have met four... yes... I think four, people who work there. Every time I go at least one or two (sometimes three) of them are there. They are so friendly! That is why I have been there for the past two days. And I stay for hours. I have met Vlad, Chad, Danny and Andrea. Go meet them. You will be impressed.

The second thing you should know is that the people who study there are amazing. They have fun. They talk to you. They will take their earphones out of their ears to talk to you. They will host hug demonstration seminars with you (no joke haha). They will sit on the floor, in the middle of the store, after it closes and talk to you. They will play hand clapping games with you. They will sit at the same table with you. I love them.

The third thing you should know is that the drinks are awesome. This kind of connects to the fact that the workers are awesome. Yesterday I ordered a vanilla chai latte, and Danny handed me the drink. He told me it would be the best chai latte I had ever had. He was right. He spent a lot of energy on the making of that drink. It was perfect. And he put whipped cream on top. No one ever puts whipped cream on top. I am a huge fan of Coffee Station now. And today, Carolyn and I had sweat dripping down our backs, so we told the workers that we wanted something cold. Something fruity. Something fun, and sweet. And we told them that we wanted it to be a surprise (at this point, we knew we were getting Italian Cream Sodas). Oh, boy, did they have fun with that! We got our drinks and then we had to guess what flavor they were!!! Carolyn's was Raspberry Blackberry and mine was Raspberry Lemon. Amazing.

That, my friends, is one of the reasons that I don't ever want to leave college. I went to Jupiter House in Denton and the workers were cold and impersonal, not to mention impatient (when there was no one in line behind me!). College Station is where it's at. More specifically, Coffee Station is where it's at.

This is another place that I am a fan of: Hastings. We have rented 8 movies there so far this summer. It's a fun place! And they have vanilla chai lattes for under $2. They don't beat Coffee Station's, though. I tried to find a picture of Coffee Station, but I couldn't. Maybe I will take some.

I'm sure you are sick of reading about coffee, so I will end this little post. Peace out.

Friday, June 08, 2007

*Sneeze* (And that was a for real sneeze, not one that I just made up for this post.)

You can see from the beginning of my post that I am sick... and very very bored I might add. I could tell on Wednesday night that I was getting sick, and sure enough, yesterday I woke up feeling pretty crappy. What made it worse was that I had a test today, and I felt lousy the whole way through. I couldn't remember things I had studied, and I got everything mixed up in my mind. Hmmm. Oh well, it's over.

I took a two hour nap this afternoon, which is so unlike me. I don't really ever take naps. But my head was pounding and I laid down on the couch and was out. I really haven't been doing anything today.

Anything.

I got home after my test, and I've been laying around ever since. I'm very bored. I wish I didn't feel sick, because there is a lot of stuff I would really like to be doing right now.

I'm a runaround kind of person. I don't like to be still for too long. I like to get out there and do it. When I'm tired, however, I need my recharge time at home. I guess I need my recharge time, because there is no way that I am going out right now.

I will stay in for the rest of the evening with... well probably myself. *Sneeze* Anna has a hang out thing and Carolyn's friend Lindsey is here for the weekend. I bet they will go out and do something, too. If you feel like hanging out with a person who is constantly blowing their nose and sneezing, give me a call.

Ok, enough about being sick. I wanted this to be a real update.

There have been many days where I have been so moved to write, but I couldn't (studying). And now, I have absolutely nothing, and I don't have any passion stirring up in me. It's mainly just mucus.

So what's been going on with me?

I went to a women's discipleship class for church on Tuesday. I can't express how excited I am about this! Meeting and talking to "older" women is something I am very interested in. I want to hear about their lives and their struggles, the ups and downs, what they've learned along the way... I can't wait to get to know these women better. It makes me excited just thinking about it!

Two of my British friends will (hopefully) be coming to visit me in August. CAN YOU BELIEVE IT!? After all this time... they will get to see where I live! I can't believe it, and it feels so unreal. I'm not sure what we'll be doing (advice, please?), but hopefully some great American pastimes. Like shopping. (Ok, that is kind of a joke, but I'm sure I'll take them to the Galleria or something.)

I just found out that my sister made 100 on her first math test. I've been tutoring her for the past two weeks, since she's not a "math person" and I am a math & science education major. It's been a tough struggle, but she did it! Actually, she was allowed to retake her exam. She studied for 5 hours every day, and always was on top of her homework. She worked HARD. And yet when she first took the exam, she got a 59 and couldn't understand why. She had studied so hard, and her mistakes were stupid ones. So she went and talked to her prof, and he said that he believed she was a hard worker and good student, so she could retake the exam. She got 100. This makes me think about what kind of teacher I want to be. I firmly believe in giving everyone second chances. I have experienced awful teachers this past semester and I know how frustrating it can be when you don't get credit for things you should get credit for.

Paris is back in jail. Heck yes. That's all I'm saying about that.

Anna is getting a smoothie for me right now from Jamba Juice. She's so sweet like that. :)

Well my friends, I will have to update again when my brain isn't so fuzzy.